Another wonderful Marian Feast - the Holy Name of Mary - happy feast day to you all. Suppressed following the liturgical changes of the Second Vatican Council it was restored by Blessed John Paul II, and I am glad it is. It is an opporunity for us to reflect on Our Lady's role in our salvation which begin with an angel calling out her name: Hail Mary, or more correctly, Rejoice Miriam! As our name is an important part of who we are, so too Mary's serves as potent symbol of who she is and what she has done for love of God and what she does for love of us. As the song from the musical West Side Story goes:
"The most beautiful sound I ever heard:
Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria . . .
All the beautiful sounds of the world in a single word . .
Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria . . .
Maria!....
And suddenly that name
Will never be the same
To me!"
Ah - I know he's singing about his girlfriend, but just that bit brings Our Holy Mother to mind - Maria - what a beautiful name. Sure look, we might as well take a moment and listen to the song and pretend Tony is getting down to say his rosary (you might have to close your eyes to indulge that particular fantasy!). We'll let Jose do the honours:
As the battle for life begins, the Pro-Life Campaign is hosting a National Seminar on Saturday the 22nd September next at 11.30pm, more information here. The report from the "expert group" set up by the government is due soon, and we are expecting it to recommend legislation for abortion.
As you reflect on what this will bring to Ireland, just look across the water and see what over forty years of abortion have brought. Here's a disturbing story which shows exactly where the medical profession is now in Great Britain. A child born at just under 22 weeks is left to die, despite desperate appeals from his mother to put him on medical support to give him a chance to live: doctors refused. The little boy took two hours to die - a sign that he may well have pulled through and lived. However, given that children are aborted every day at a later stage in pregnancy (a woman can kill her child as long as she is in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy), there was no will to keep him alive. The mother was told that if the child had been born two days later they would have treated him.
I sometimes wonder why God allows this world to continue existing. Given that our governments, hospitals, medical staff and various highly-influential groups are engaged in the massacre of innocent little children, I sometimes wonder why God allows it. Billy Graham's wife, Ruth, as she looked at the state of the US once said that if God did not punish America he owed Sodom and Gomorrah an apology. When you see the silent holocaust claiming the lives of little children you'd have to agree with her. Why does God allow this?
This is very much a Jeremiah question (Cf. Jer 12): the prophet asked the Lord why he allowed evil men and women to prosper while they persecuted the good and the holy. We too might ask: "Lord why do you allow abortionists and their supporters to live when they kill your little children and persecute those who fight for life? Lord, why do you allow pro-abortion politicians to live while they manipulate the laws and constitutions of our nations to legislate for the murder of our most vulnerable of our citizens?" As a friend of mine would say, "It's all a mystery", and it is: King David filled the Psalms with such questions and, in faith came to the same conclusion as my friend, as did holy Job.
God has a bigger plan and included in that is the call to conversion. He desires that all people be saved and will not use the tactics of anger and hatred - the devil uses them. Our part is to pray, make sacrifices and work, within the bounds of charity, to bring this holocaust to an end. But, as we all know, it takes strength to say no to anger: may the God give us the grace to resist this anger. Not anger, but love; and, yes, that love will be tested. It will be tested by politicians who call us bigots like the UK deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg - who is now trying to squirm his way out of it for political expediency.
Time to call upon Holy Maria for help: Sweet Mother of us all, watch over us, watch over our little children.
Related to all this, there is a new movie coming out in the US exploring the theme of discrimination against Christians. Called Last Ounce of Courage it looks at how believers have become, not only strangers in society, but are under pressure to hide, and perhaps even renounce, their religious practices. It stars a young Catholic actor, Hunter Gomez, in the one of the lead roles. Kevin Jones has an interesting article on it here. It raises interesting questions. Here is the trailer:
God has a bigger plan and included in that is the call to conversion. He desires that all people be saved and will not use the tactics of anger and hatred - the devil uses them. Our part is to pray, make sacrifices and work, within the bounds of charity, to bring this holocaust to an end. But, as we all know, it takes strength to say no to anger: may the God give us the grace to resist this anger. Not anger, but love; and, yes, that love will be tested. It will be tested by politicians who call us bigots like the UK deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg - who is now trying to squirm his way out of it for political expediency.
Time to call upon Holy Maria for help: Sweet Mother of us all, watch over us, watch over our little children.
Related to all this, there is a new movie coming out in the US exploring the theme of discrimination against Christians. Called Last Ounce of Courage it looks at how believers have become, not only strangers in society, but are under pressure to hide, and perhaps even renounce, their religious practices. It stars a young Catholic actor, Hunter Gomez, in the one of the lead roles. Kevin Jones has an interesting article on it here. It raises interesting questions. Here is the trailer:
Thank you, Fr John. Please help spread the word about the excellent International Symposium on Maternal Health held last Saturday, 8th, in Dublin. See the Dublin Declaration which resulted confirming the fact that abortion is never medically necessary to save the life of a mother - www.symposiummaternalhealth.ie. The presentations are to be available online too. I understand it was very well attended and delegates were very pleased with the quality and range of the material presented. Dr Eamonn O'Dwyer, Obstetrician was among the organisers. Meanwhile, the prolife leafletting campaign against the proposed introduction of abortion into Ireland, which has been going on gor several weeks, continues, mostly outside churches. It would be great if more people would volunteer to do their local churches.
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